


Five Times Tony Tried Bondage (and one time he finds what he was looking for)

by oper_1895



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: 5+1 Things, Bad BDSM Etiquette, Bondage, Dubious Consent, Flashbacks, Ichinawa, Kinda H/C, Leaked photos, M/M, Multi, Panic Attacks, Sex Work, Shibari, Some Non-sexual kink, bad bdsm, bad scenes, bondage injury, cuddle rope, kinda whump, nerve injury from rope, one-rope, snuggles, soft rope scene, taking and selling explicit photos without consent, unsafe bondage practices
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:14:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26284771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oper_1895/pseuds/oper_1895
Summary: Tony really wants to like bondage. He keeps trying over the years, but things never go how he imagined it. Until Steve.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Tony Stark/Other(s)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 96





	Five Times Tony Tried Bondage (and one time he finds what he was looking for)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to in_umbra_gratia for the beta!
> 
> Tony has a bunch of shitty scenes with shitty people. Mind the tags. See end notes for details if you want to know what happens in each section.

**ONE**

Tony flexed his bound hands awkwardly. The guy tying him was apparently using traditional jute, purchased from the Japanese master he said he had trained under. The tie, he was told, was a classic Takata Kote in the style of … someone whose name Tony had already forgotten. His hands were tied behind his back, forearm to forearm. Wraps of rope above and below his pecs pinned his upper arms to his sides. There was something going on with rope in his armpits and rope between his elbow and his body. More rope came up over his shoulders, linking the back to the front. He wished he could see what was happening but the guy had blindfolded him after he asked too many questions. 

Tony shifted again. His left hand did feel distinctly different from his right now. “Uhh my left hand feels strange.”

The guy ran a finger under the wraps over his arms perfunctorily. “Placement’s where it’s supposed to be. You’ll be fine.”

Tony dug a fingernail into the meat of his thumb. The sensation felt strangely dull. “I’m not sure I’m okay.”

“Hey,” the guy said sharply, “who’s in charge of this experience?”

“You are.” Tony muttered. 

“Right. So shut up and let me tie.”

Tony shut up. He tried to let himself drift into the ropes and enjoy the experience in the way he dreamed he could. Tony knew he was lucky to get a chance to tie with this guy. 

_Wrist drop_ was what the internet said. Compression injury to the radial nerve. 

\---

It took two weeks before Tony could use his hand normally.

~*~

**TWO**

They were new to this, but they knew enough to tie him to the bed and that was enough. Tony shivered as the rope trailed across his skin. His hands were already tied to the corners of the headboard and the man dragged his hands down Tony’s leg as he prepared to tie his ankles. The woman was busy distracting Tony with kisses. He leaned up into them, chasing the pleasure as she swung a leg over his hips. 

Too soon, her husband had finished tying Tony’s ankles to the corners of the bed and she pushed back. She watched Tony watch her as she climbed off of him and adjusted her clothes to more publicly acceptable coverage. He rolled his shoulders, flexing a little to look a little more provocative. 

She smiled at his efforts but didn’t stop getting re-dressed. “You’ll be all ready for us when we come back.”

“Wait, what?” Tony demanded.

“It’s date night.” The guy said, as if that explained anything. “We’ll be back after dinner.”

The woman leaned forward, giving Tony one last kiss along with an eyeful of her cleavage. “It gets us really wound up to think about you waiting at home for us.”

“I’m not okay with being left alone.” Tony said firmly. 

“You’ll be fine!” the husband called as he walked out the door. 

“See you soon!” She blew Tony a kiss.

Tony waited 20 minutes before he was sure they were serious, and they weren’t just hiding in the other room as a mindfuck. It took 10 minutes of picking at the knots before he gave up and sacrificed some skin to pull his hand out of the cuff. 

\---

Their annoyed texts came in 2 hours later. He blocked their number.

~*~

**THREE**

This one was hot and gorgeous and actually knew what he was doing and wanted to tie Tony up and take him apart. Tony strained against the ropes, and it felt amazing. They bit into his skin, a rough contrast to the smooth heat of the man’s mouth as he licked his way down Tony’s body, kissing and teasing between each diamond of the body harness.

Tony cursed then swore then lost his words entirely, overwhelmed. The man laughed then flipped Tony over to take his own pleasure. It wasn’t… nice. Tony flexed again, pressing against the rope to try to refind the headspace he had before, but it was fleeting. He struggled, a little bit more real this time but the man just laughed again. Tony felt the last of his pleasant haze disappear, and decided he didn’t care anymore. 

\---

The photos showed up on TMZ the next day, and it turned out Tony still cared a little.

~*~

**FOUR**

Tony didn’t know why he expected it to go any differently than the way it did. He’d managed to keep it together during the tying but he’d panicked as soon as they pushed him down, flashing back to caves and yelling and numbing fear. They’d left pretty much immediately after they cut the rope off of him, muttering about wasted time and the cost of rope. 

\---

Tony slept on the couch for the next week, surrounded by clean modern open concept lines and under a double-height ceiling, staring at the lights of the city.

~*~

**FIVE**

Tony went to a professional who could guarantee discretion and had experience working with trauma. There was an in depth discussion about his wants and desires and what could be provided. He just wanted to be tied up, competently and safely, with nothing else. 

It was technically perfect and everything he had asked for. He drifted gently in the ropes, feeling both weightless and bound by gravity. 

\---

He felt hollow and blank when he got home, but he didn’t know why.

~*~

**PLUS ONE**

“I’d love to tie you.” Steve said softly as they discussed their plans for the evening. 

Tony felt his spine stiffen, but he kept his voice casual. “Yeah, sure.” 

It came out flat. Steve, of course, noticed. The observant bastard. “We don’t have to if you don’t want to.” 

“No, we can try.” Tony sighed, he trusted Steve. He remembered wanting to like rope. At minimum Steve wasn’t going to consciously hurt him. “We can try.”

“Okay. ” Steve still looked slightly dubious, like he wanted to turn this into a _Conversation_. So Tony started stripping to distract him and eventually Steve followed suit. 

Then Tony hovered awkwardly, trying to look casual and relaxed as Steve dug a piece of rope out of their toybox, and laid a soft blanket on the floor. Tony was waiting for the rest, but Steve just stayed on the floor, kneeling back on his heels. He held his hand out to Tony in invitation. “Will you join me?” 

Tony let Steve draw him down onto the floor, let Steve pull him in close. Steve’s big hands wrapped around the back of Tony’s neck, tilting their heads together. Steve held him, breathing deeply, and eventually Tony felt himself matching his breaths.

This was nice. Tony felt his shoulders relax, felt himself start to lean in further.

“We’re not going to do anything complicated.” Steve’s voice was gentle and reassuring. “This isn’t going to be heavy restraint, just go with it.”

Tony nodded. Forehead to forehead, Steve’s head moved with his.

“If anything feels wrong or weird, or if you’re not having fun, promise you’ll tell me.”

“Promise.” Tony whispered, feeling oddly intense in this moment, breathing each other’s breath.

“Okay.” Steve said, cupping Tony’s face for a kiss. Steve’s hands started moving slowly down, dragging down Tony’s neck, rubbing across his shoulders and down his arms until Steve was gently holding Tony’s hand. Tony stared at where their hands joined, watching as Steve dragged the rope deliberately across the delicate skin on the underside of Tony’s wrist as he wrapped it once, then twice. Tony shivered as Steve let go of his hand to finish the knot, tugging the finished cuff gently up Tony’s wrist to place the knot against the palm of Tony’s hand. 

“Good?” Steve asked, barely above a whisper.

“Good.” Tony confirmed. It wasn’t tight at all. He could slip his hand out with no trouble if he wanted. He let his fingers curl around the knot. 

“Good. Thank you.” Steve kissed him softly, then pulled gently on the rope. Tony remembered Steve’s instructions _just go with it_ and let Steve use the rope to pull his arm up behind his back. Steve dragged his hands across Tony’s skin as he laid the rope in a spiral around Tony’s torso, trapping his other arm in the process. The rope felt like a continuation of his hands, an echo that got louder instead of fading. Tony let his body sway with Steve’s movements, giving space for the rope, taking space for himself. 

When Steve reached the end of the rope, he didn’t tie it off as Tony expected, he just held the end for a moment and breathed. Tony’s eyes closed, and he let himself just feel the rope wrapping around his torso. There were no knots, just the occasional twists as the rope changed direction. It wouldn’t take any effort to make the whole thing fall apart, all he had to do was stop participating. 

He wanted to keep participating in this strange heady moment. 

Steve unwrapped the rope as slowly as he placed it in the first place, and Tony almost felt disappointed as the final wrap released. But Steve simply re-settled the cuff on Tony’s wrist and started again. This time the rope caught up one of Tony’s legs, and tangled through the toes of his other foot, twisting him into a bundle before releasing him again.

Steve continued in a soothing rhythm of inhale, exhale, wrap and unwrap. The rope drew Tony into careful deliberate shapes, dragging across delicate skin and holding muscle firmly. It wrapped around his head, shutting out the world until it was just Tony and Steve and vibrations of the rope resonating through his skull. It opened him up, leaving him exposed and off balance, but safe in Steve’s arms. Tony felt drunk, lost in the flow with Steve, feeling everything in the connection and in the breath between them. 

Tony noticed himself paying attention to the specific patterns again somewhere around round 5 as Steve caught both of Tony’s wrists together in the center of his chest, pressing them protectively against the arc reactor. Tony followed the feel of the rope as it angled down across his back, then scooped around his hip to catch both legs, pulling him into a ball. Tony breathed as the rope scraped delicately along his side, anticipating the rope across his back, but it didn’t come. Instead Steve’s body pressed close to his, and the rope came across his other side. 

Steve had… Steve had included himself in the bundle of rope and limbs. Tony felt something welling up through the soft haze he'd been floating in. Then Steve pulled and everything tightened, and every inch of his skin woke up, and the rope felt amazing and Steve was solid and _there_ against him. It was everything he had dreamed of and it was too much too perfect. He felt a shiver run through him and he lost the rhythm of Steve’s breaths. 

Then Steve pressed the knotted rope ends into Tony's clasped hands.

This was... oh.

Tony’s breath caught again but for a different reason. He blinked hard, clutching the knotted rope ends tightly as he fell into matching Steve’s breathing again. 

This was…

He pushed back into Steve, who dropped a kiss on the top of Tony’s head and held on. 

_Oh._

This was what he’d been looking for.

\---

Tony still had the rope tied around his wrist when Steve finally carried him to bed. They woke up tangled together.

**Author's Note:**

> Spoiler details:  
> 1\. Tony’s top ignores his safety concerns due to ego and ends up giving him a nerve injury  
> 2\. Tony’s partners leave him alone tied up (he gets himself out and leaves).  
> 3\. Tony stops having a good time and his partner doesn’t notice. The partner also sells photos he had taken during the encounter.  
> 4\. Tony tries bondage after his kidnapping. He has a panic attack.  
> 5\. Tony goes to a sex worker, he gets exactly what he asks for (a highly technical, non-emotional scene) but he feels unsatisfied.  
> +1 Steve does a very gentle one-rope or ‘ichinawa’ scene with Tony. Tony gets slightly overwhelmed and suspicious of how good it is, Steve handles it perfectly. 
> 
> Soapbox:  
> Bondage is fun but can be dangerous even with good intentions!  
> Nerve Safety Quick Reference: https://anatomiestudio.com/2020/05/22/nerve-damage-flyer-new-and-updated/  
> General bondage safety info: https://rope365.com/safety/  
> Video Bondage Safety Course: https://shibaristudy.com/programs/safety-course?categoryId=23959


End file.
